ANOTHER COLES - THIS ONE'S SIDNEY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992                   TAG: 9202200066
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long
ANOTHER COLES - THIS ONE'S SIDNEY - ON THE RISE
Sidney Coles, brother of former Virginia Tech basketball star Bimbo Coles, has emerged as a Division I prospect at Greenbrier East High School in Lewisburg, W.Va.
"He's a force," Greenbrier East coach Jerry Bradley said. "Somebody's going to get a heckuva player. He's very underrated, a diamond in the rough."
The younger Coles, academically ineligible for the second semester of his junior year, is averaging more than 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals per game. He was 27-of-83 on 3-point attempts through 17 games.
Bradley said he has received calls from VMI, Fairfield, Nebraska, Miami and West Virginia. Coles was at Virginia Tech's team camp last year, and the Hokies are monitoring his progress.
"I'd be surprised if he went there," Bradley said. "The problem is the shadow. Bimbo casts a long one."
That was one of Sidney's problems early in his career, although he has improved his academic status and now qualifies for a grant-in-aid under NCAA guidelines, Bradley said.
"There were a lot of expectations starting with Sidney's sophomore year," Bradley said. "He was under a lot of pressure and didn't always handle it well. But he's made a complete turnaround."
Sidney Coles, listed at 6 feet 4, is about 2 inches taller than his brother, who is in his second year with the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association. Both play point guard.
"Bimbo is more of a take-it-to-the-hole player," said Bradley, who succeeded the late Dick Gunnoe, who coached Bimbo Coles. "Sidney is more likely to pull up and take the jumper. Bimbo is stronger, while Sidney is more versatile. But, like his brother, he's a winner."
\ George Lynch, a North Carolina junior from Roanoke, is on pace for career highs in scoring average (14.8 points per game), rebounding average (8.7), field-goal percentage (56.2), free-throw percentage (67.2), assists (43) and steals (41) through 20 games. Lynch had a career high 26 points against Wake Forest.
\ In a scheduling oddity, first-year ACC member Florida State will wrap up its regular-season basketball schedule next Thursday, two weeks before the start of the conference tournament. The Seminoles' game at Clemson on Tuesday night was their 15th ACC game - five more than Virginia or North Carolina have played.
| It would not be unprecedented for UVa, or anybody else, to make the National Invitation Tournament with a .500 record. Michigan and Wisconsin received NIT bids last year after going 14-14 in the regular season.
\ Richard Morgan, who was talking of returning to Europe several weeks ago, has moved into the starting lineup for the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association and is averaging 8.4 points and 2.2 assists per game.
Morgan, a Salem native who made the All-ACC team for Virginia in 1989, had played in two of 10 games when he came off the bench Feb. 4 to score 20 points in 24 minutes at Albany. The next night, in his first start, he barely missed a triple-double with 19 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists against Sioux Falls.
\ Going into Wednesday night's action, Virginia senior Bryant Stith had scored more points in his career (2,250) than the other 14 players on UVa's roster combined (2,214). Anthony Oliver is second on UVa's career list among active players with 766 points.
\ UVa's basketball staff is in touch with 6-foot-10 Richard Mandeville, a junior at La Canada (Calif.) High School who is the son of a UVa alumnus. The younger Mandeville was rated as one of the top 33 sophomores in the country last year by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons.
\ Virginia Tech basketball signee Ace Custis, believed lost for the season after an automobile accident Jan. 25, returned to action Tuesday night and scored 15 points for Northampton High in a 67-56 loss to Franklin. Custis broke his jaw and nose in the accident.
\ Joe Cochran, basketball coach at Broad Run High in Ashburn, said he received six calls Tuesday about senior guard Jason Landsdown, who is averaging more than 27 points per game. Virginia Tech and Radford are among the schools interested in Landsdown, who has met NCAA qualifying standards.
\ VMI junior center Lewis Preston from Boones Mill ranks first in the Southern Conference in field-goal percentage, blocked shots and rebounding in conference games. "Is there a better post player in the state?" Keydets coach Joe Cantafio asks.
\ Radford University senior Stephen Barber is the first player in school history to get 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 assists. Barber, listed at 6-3, leads the Highlanders in rebounding with 6.3 per game.
\ Usually, transfers within a conference are frowned upon, but Donald Grant transferred from Old Dominion to American University before the Monarchs joined the Colonial Athletic Association. Grant leads the CAA in assists and ranks second in free-throw percentage and fifth in scoring.
\ Former Northside High School football player Don Rice, an NAIA All-American at Northern State College in Aberdeen, S.D., will flying to Germany on Friday to join the Stuttgart Scorpions of the European Football League.
Rice, 25, is seeking to gain some exposure in hopes of playing in the World Football League, which has fewer openings this year because of an infusion of NFL talent. Rice (6 feet 4, 260 pounds) was a defensive lineman in college but is tentatively scheduled to play linebacker in Germany.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB